1 Aminoacid-derived Cu II compounds as catalysts for asymmetric oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol P. Adão, S. Barroso, M. F. N. N. Carvalho, C. M. Teixeira, M. L. Kuznetsov, J. Costa Pessoa 1 Centro Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovísco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal Supporting Information Synthesis of ligand precursors (S)-3-phenyl-2-(pyridin-2-ylmethylamino)propanoic acid, H1. L-phenylalanine (L-Phe, 3.4 g, 20 mmol) and NaOH (0.8 g, 21 mmol) were added to 40 mL of ethanol (EtOH). After the dissolution of the amino acid, pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde (2.2 g, 1.9 mL, 20 mmol) was added. After 30 minutes of stirring, approximately 1 g of NaBH 4 was carefully added to the mixture. After the gas evolution mostly subsided, the pH was carefully adjusted to ca. 2 with conc. HCl to decompose excess NaBH 4 . The pH was readjusted to ca. 7 with saturated aqueous NaHCO 3 and a white solid precipitated. The solid was filtered and washed with water and diethyl ether. Yield: 68 % (3.5g) 1 H-NMR (300 MHz, D 2 O + MeOH marker, excess Na 2 CO 3 , ppm): 2.90 [2H, m, -CH 2 CHCOONa], 3.36 [1H, m, -CH 2 CHCOONa-, signal masked by MeOH, detected by HSQC], 3.64 [1H, d, 2 J HH =13.9 Hz, PyCHHNH-], 3.81 [1H, d, 2 J HH =13.9 Hz, PyCHHNH-], 7.20 to 7.35 [7H, m, aromatic], 7.74 [1H, td, J 1 =7.7 Hz, J 2 =1.5 Hz, aromatic], 8.37 [1H, d, 3 J HH =4.5 Hz, aromatic]. 13 C-{ 1 H} NMR (75 MHz, D 2 O + MeOH marker, excess Na 2 CO 3 , ppm): δ 39.73 [1C, -CH 2 CHCOONa], 52.68 [1C, PyCH 2 NH-], 65.48 [1C, -CH 2 CHCOONa], 123.49, 123.55, 127.22, 129.16, 129.83, 138.62, 138.68, 149.96, 158.14 [11C, aromatic], 181.06 [1C, -COONa]. Elemental analysis for C 15 H 16 N 2 O 2 : C 70.29, H 6.29, N 10.93; found: C 70.0, H 6.4, N 11.0. (R)-3-phenyl-3-(pyridin-2-ylmethylamino)propanoic acid, H2. The preparation method for this compound was identical to that used for 1. Reagents: L--phenylalanine (L-- Phe, 3.3 g, 20 mmol), pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde (2.1 g, 1.9 mL, 19 mmol), NaOH (0.8 Electronic Supplementary Material (ESI) for Dalton Transactions. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2014